Who art thou, William? 4 Shakespearean mysteries unsolved after 450 years


Definitely not the definitive portrait of William Shakespeare: On the 450th anniversary of his birth, we're still no closer to uncovering the most enigmatic of Shakespearean characters, Shakespeare himself.

Go, Shakespeare, it's your birthday! For a man who would've been 450 years old today, it’s shocking how little we know of the Bard from Stratford-upon-Avon.

Every year, Shakespeare’s literary legacy is performed and adapted, discussed and criticised, celebrated and satirised, published and republished all over the globe. Case in point: The World Shakespeare Bibliography, which has maintained a global database of various stuff written about or inspired by the playwright since 1960, boasts a list that currently tallies at 136,494 entries – far more than the 38 plays and 154 poems attributed to him.

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